Sugar Stock Is Piled Up, Sugar Farmers Collect The Government's Promise To Buy According To HPP

Sugar (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Secretary General of the National Leadership Council of the Indonesian People's Tebu Farmers Association (DPN APTRI), M. Nur Khabsyin said that his party had visited a number of ministries and state institutions, to convey aspirations related to the drop in sugar prices and cane drops which further suppressed farmers' income.

They also urged the government to immediately buy farmers' sugar according to the HPP (Government Purchase Price) which has been set at IDR 14,500 per kilogram (kg).

"Our sugar market is flooded with refined sugar and people's purchasing power has decreased so that farmers' sugar is not absorbed. We collect the government's promise to immediately disburse Rp 1.5 trillion in funds for farmers' sugar purchases according to the HPP as promised by the government a month ago," said Khabsyin to VOI, Wednesday, August 13.

He said, until now, farmers' sugar stocks that have accumulated in sugar factories have now reached 100,000 tons nationally. This happened because the price offer from traders during the auction was below the HPP.

In addition to sugar, the price of sugar cane drops also fell sharply from IDR 3,000 per kilogram last year to IDR 1,500 per kilogram. In fact, buyers ask for a further reduction from the agreed price.

Khabsyin assessed that the main cause of falling droplet prices was the issuance of Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 16 of 2025 which freed ethanol imports without import approval, without quota, and free import duties.

"Ironically, the production of ethanol and cane drops in the country is in surplus and some are exported, the government actually frees imports of ethanol. Anyone can import unconditionally, without quota, without import approval, without a recommendation for ironing, this makes the price of farmers fall," said Khabysin.

Threatening Big Demo

These sugarcane farmers urged the government to immediately absorb the sugar of farmers according to the HPP and stop the policy of importing free ethanol. If their request is not fulfilled, then 5,000 farmers will hold an action.

"This condition has made farmers uncomfortable. If our aspirations are ignored, we will hold a demonstration with the strength of 5,000 sugarcane farmers from all over Indonesia," said Khabsyin.